The Guardian

By the standards of late Feldman, the proportions of Clarinet and String Quartet (1983) are modest – its single movement lasts just over 40 minutes in this nicely judged performance. It is a wonderful showcase of the techniques that Feldman explored towards the end of his life; the music seems determined to exhaust the possibilities of the smallest possible collection of pitches, but its gradations of rhythm and colour become endlessly fascinating. Like that work, Christopher Fox’s 1992 Clarinet Quintet takes nothing for granted either, moving through a world of microtones, barely perceptible pulsings and intensely fragile textures in a way that confers enormous significance on the smallest nuance. ***